Go Big Or Go Home! – Day 02
It was such a relief when we finally landed in Narita Airport. We couldn’t wait to disembark after enduring the uncomfortable flight. We braced ourselves for the infamous long lines at the immigration. Much to our surprise, the line was very short and we cleared immigration in 15 minutes! We found the baggage storage and stored our hand carry baggage and were ready to hit the town.
It was a breeze to purchase train tickets as there was English instructions. We opted for return ticket and hopped on to an empty waiting train. Narita town is about 10 minutes away from the airport. Ashley liked it that the seats were heated. We reached Narita in no time just to realise that ZA had left his map with his hand carry bag. Fortunately, there was signage and a visitor centre where we found the information we needed.
The streets were empty at 9am. We were attracted by the sweet aroma from a taiyaki store. Some locals stopped their cars on the street to order them. It must be good! However, I was disappointed that they only offer the Azuki bean and white bean. ZA and Jarod were very satisfied though. They love Azuki! There was nothing for Ashley so we stopped at 7-11 and picked up some snacks for her.
Most visitors to Japan plan their itineraries around Tokyo although their journey begins and ends with Narita International Airport. In the rush to get into Tokyo or return home, Narita is often skipped altogether. We are that sort of visitors too. in order to save a thousand dollars on our flight to LA, we opted to lay-over in Narita for half a day.
We had the pleasure to visit one of eastern Japan’s most visually impressive temples, Naritasan Shinshoji and its attached gardens.
We explored the grounds and posed for more photos. As we all can tell, we are not temple people. We were killing time just for the one reason to layover in Narita.
A quick check on our watch and yes!!! It was time to go and we headed out into the streets and were led by our noses till we stopped at Kawatoyo Honten. Kawatoyo Honten is a restaurant which specialises in unagi dishes with a history of more than a hundred years. We were tempted to order the larger portions but alas we didn’t carry enough yen with us. We settled for the smaller portions of instead. We paid, took our tickets and the waitress led us to a tatami style table. We love unagi and hopefully this does not disappoint us.
The chefs expertly carve up live eels in front, a testament to the restaurant’s freshness. Visitors on the street can watch through the open windows of eateries as chefs prepare the fish. The aroma of grilled unagi filled the air.
Soon, the waitress presented us with four nicely lacquered boxes, laden with perfectly charcoal-grilled eel coated in teriyaki sauce on rice. Our verdict in three words – BEST UNAGI EVER! We wished we had exchanged for more yen so we could have more of this delicacy.
After the extremely satisfying lunch, we took a stroll along the shopping street which runs downhill from the station to the very gates of Shinshoji. This shopping street is known as “Omotesando,” and is noted for its souvenir shops that flog religious trinkets. Ashley picked up a souvenir magnet and we decided to head back to Narita Airport.
We arrived at the train station only to find out that the train does not depart hourly during off peak timing. We spent time ogling at the uniquely Japanese vending machines and people watching.
As our flight does not depart till evening, we headed to a Japanese restaurant at the airport when our stomachs started growling. We had an early dinner before boarding our flight. Ashley had the udon, Jarod, the curry katsudon and ZA and I shared the tempura don. They were good.
The TSA checks in Narita is almost nonexistent, unlike all the other airports we have been to. Much to our delight, the flight was not full. ZA had the luxury to have the whole row of seats to himself. Ashley and I took his seat so we could stretch out. ZA occupied another row with Jarod. We were really tired and slept after the meal was served. This flight was much more pleasant as compared to the first leg.
We have recently learnt to appreciate a longer layover for a long flight. This breaks up the journey and made it more bearable. In addition, we got to sample Narita’s famous eel dishes!
On arrival at Los Angeles Airport, we breezed through the immigration once again and proceeded to the National Emerald aisle to select our car. We really loved the ‘car shopping’ experience. We could pick any car from the aisle! Ashley’s wish came true. She had been hoping to get a Rav4 as she was hooked on CLIF4, the Chinese drama serial. Her favourite actor was driving that car in the show.
ZA had decided to proceed to Travelodge where we could get a day room although I had ambitious plans to shop. We decided that we were tired and needed a shower. Travelodge as its name suggests, is a budget motel. The room was reeking of stale scent. We had to tip toe around the room (the carpet was yucky) and had trouble with the shower knob. The only saving grace was its wallet friendly price. But given a choice, we will not return.
We were hungry and decided to grab a quick lunch at Denny’s, which is attached to Travelodge. Strangely, we have never set foot in Denny’s before throughout all our trips to USA. The food was not too bad and it filled us up.
After lunch, we returned to the room to shower and have a nap. It has been a long day for us due to the time difference of -16 hours.
Soon, we checked out of the hotel in search of dinner. We had wanted to try Roscoe’s, which is famous for their Obama Special, a Chicken and Waffle dish but it was closed. We settled for Carl’s Junior. This is our favourite fast food chain in USA.
After dinner, we returned the Rav4 to the National counter and awaited our domestic flight to our destination, Orlando. This time round, we decided to try Frontier since JetBlue has no direct flight to Orlando. Moreover, Frontier was offering prices too good to refuse.
As we awaited for our 6 hour flight across USA, we realised something was amiss. It was past our boarding time and yet boarding didn’t take place. The status was changed to Delayed before the monitor was turned down altogether. We were told to wait for instructions. It was getting cold and we had stuffed all our jackets into our check in luggage. Not good news. Our hopes were raised when we saw the pilots getting in the aircraft before it was dashed again. We started preparing ourselves for the worst and I actually started doubting my decision to try Frontier. After what seemed to be an eternity, we were finally invited to board!
The pilot explained that they had to reset the system and we were good to go! We were one hour late and he promised to take a shorter route to get us to the destination on time. As we all know, on time performance is a very important indicator for domestic airlines. True to his words, we landed just a mere 5 minutes late. Amazing! The seats were comfortable, the service good and the flight was smooth. Most importantly, we have finally arrived at Orlando!